An Arrest of Attention

11Mar

I feel that art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos. A stillness which characterizes prayer, too, and the eye of the storm. I think that art has something to do with an arrest of attention in the midst of distraction. Saul Bellow (1915 – 2005)

Quoting this here, to hang on to it. This is something I definitely struggle with, finding silence in the chaos. Not just the chaos of kids and family life, but the Internet. Facebook-twitter-YouTube-cracked.com-Amen. Putting all away an working is tremendously tough. The alternative, though is putting it all away practically permanently, since I’ve definitely found it’s all or nothing for me. These days, it doesn’t seem easily doable to be both a recluse AND a low-level author.

That’s all rather more jabber than I intended. I just wanted to put up that quote. & so to bed.